A New Nightmare
by Ahardie
Summary: Someone new has arrived in Halloween town. But Jack might just have met his match. This is my first story so please, no flaming.


_T'was a long time ago, longer now than it seems_

_In a place that perhaps you've seen in your dreams._

_For the story that you are about to be told,_

_Began with two worlds of old._

_Now you may have wondered about Halloween,_

_And it's legendary Pumpkin King._

_Well one child was able to find out,_

_What he was about._

A boy the age of 15 trudged along the dirt track of the woods on the late evening of Halloween, his hands buried deep in his jacket pockets. He had short, black hair and green piercing eyes. He wore a grey jacket, and a plain black shirt with trousers to match, that hung loosely off his thin frame. His steel capped boots crunched on the dry leaf litter underneath his feet.

This would be the first year after many that he hadn't celebrated Halloween, his favorite of holidays. He had grown tired of being the weird kid, and being the butt of everyone's jokes. So what if his room was full of strange plants? So what if his favorite animals were bats? People didn't understand how hard it was, when you had no family of your own.

"Why should I care what they think?" he asked himself.

"All that it means is that they can't see life in the same light as I do"

Shortly, he heard noises coming from the woods behind him, faint voices at first, but as they got closer, he instantly recognized them. He merely kept on walking deeper into the forest, in the hopes that the owners of the voices wouldn't find him. Sure enough though, this was not to be.

"Hey Ross, look who it is!" said one to the other

"I see him Lee!" replied the one addressed Ross

"What do you think your doing out here Alex?" Lee asked,

Alex merely stopped for a second, clenching his fists, and then continued on his way.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ross asked, grabbing Alex's shoulder

"Don't you have something important to do for once?" Alex asked without turning round to face them.

"Yeah, beating the hell out of you" Lee replied.

"Yeah, well sorry to disappoint you, but I'm unavailable Alex replied, and he began to walk away.

"Why's that" Ross asked "got to see your mum and dad?" he asked sniggering.

Alex stopped dead in his tracks; a tear welled in his eye as he thought about the loss he had experienced. His hands then clenched as his sadness turned to rage, his nails cutting into the skin on his hand.

"Do not, test me you two." Alex said, now only just refraining himself from launching himself at his two aggravators.

"Why, what you going to do? Set your parents on us?" Lee asked howling with laughter. This was breaking point, Alex felt no remorse for what he did, acting purely on emotion.

"That's it Lee!" he yelled, swinging his fist into Lee's nose. He keeled over as blood spouted from his broken nose, screaming in pain. Alex took of as fast as he could into the forest. Ross, turning to follow him, instead took something out of his pocket and through it, colliding with Alex's leg, where it remained lodged in his skin. Ignoring the pain, Alex kept running. Stopping briefly, he looked up at the tree he stood by, its trunk lacking any branches instead bearing a rough bark. Without giving it a second thought, Alex began to scale the tree, climbing higher until he reached the first branch, and pulled himself onto it.

Sitting upon the high branch, Alex listened to the screams of pain in the darkness, the moon still obscured by the clouds, and the voices of his to pursuers. Gradually, the voices began to fade, and one he was convinced that they were gone; Alex began to climb back down to the ground. As he reached the forest floor, he felt a twinge of pain in the back of his leg. Looking at it, Alex pulled out the object that had been thrown at him. As the clouds cleared, the moon cast it's shimmering light down upon the forest, and Alex was able to see that what had been thrown at him, was a small knife .Dropping it to the ground, Alex looked around, instantly recognizing where he was. He was in the hinterlands; an area of the forest that the old timers in town said was a gateway to another world.

Hearing a faint rustling behind him, Alex shot round, looking frantically around for whatever caused the noise. Then he saw it, a small mouse was staring at him, chewing at a leaf. He thought to himself _"It's not doing any harm, leave it be."_ Deciding to follow his instincts, Alex turned his back on the creature, continuing on his way, deeper into the hinterlands. Looking back one last time, he saw the mouse seemed to be following him, thinking nothing of it; he turned his mind back to his current idea.

Continuing into the hinterlands, Alex found something peculiar. A circle of trees, seven in total, were standing just in front of him. Walking into the centre of the circle, he saw what was on the trees. On each tree, was an image of seven of the year's holidays. On closer inspection, he realized that they appeared to be doors. He looked from one to the next, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, but one in particular took his interest. A smiling jack-o-lantern, the symbol of Halloween. Stepping towards it, Alex couldn't find any obvious handle, but then he thought. Reaching out towards the nose he grabbed hold of it. To his happiness it turned, and he pulled it open.

Looking inside, Alex found nothing, just the other side of the trunk staring back at him. Confused, he turned back and looked at the mouse that had been following him and shrugged his shoulders.

"I dunno" he said to answer the creatures non verbal question.

Suddenly he felt a wind begin to spiral around him, looking back at the tree he saw leaves being picked up by the wind before he was sucked into the tree. The mouse stared at the tree for a second before running off into the forest. Alex landed with a thud as the wind dropped him to the ground. He heard the crunching of the leaves beneath him as he stood up. Looking to his left, he saw he was standing by a scarecrow with a sign attached to its chest. Taking a step closer to read the sign clearly, he read the words aloud "Halloween town". As he looked in the direction of the scarecrows pointing hand, he saw in the distance, a town with oddly shaped buildings sitting atop a hill. Taking one last look at the way he had come, Alex started to trek towards the town in the distance.

As he neared the town, he heard music, cheering and singing. Alex ducked behind a few statues and walls as he made his approach to the town square where all the excitement seemed to be coming from. Finally, he could make out the words to the song that was being sung.

_I am the one hiding under your bed_

_Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red!_

_I am the one hiding under your stairs,_

_Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair!_

_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!_

_In this town we call home,_

_Everyone hail to the pumpkin song._

_In this town, don't we love it now?_

_Everybody's waiting for the next surprise_

_Round that corner man, hiding in the trash can_

_Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll_

_Scream! This is Halloween_

_Red n black, slimy green_

_Aren't you scared?_

_Well that's just fine_

_Say it once, say it twice_

_Take a chance and roll the dice_

_Ride with the moon in the dead of night_

_Everybody scream, everybody scream_

_In our town of Halloween_

_I am the clown with the tear-away face_

_Here in a flash and gone without a trace_

_I am the "who" when you call, "whose there?"_

_I am the wind blowing through your hair_

_I am the shadow on the moon at night_

_Filling your dreams to the brim with fright._

Alex had sneaked through on of the gates and peered round the corner, he gasped at what he saw. There was a whole collection of nightmarish creatures from stories passed down through time. Amongst the horror the most human thing he could see, was a young woman who appeared to be a living rag doll. Mesmerized by the sight, he continued to watch them sing and dance.

_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!_

_Halloween! Halloween!_

_Tender lumplings everywhere_

_Life's no fun without a good scare_

_That's our job, but we're not mean_

_In our town of Halloween_

_In this town_

_Don't we love it now?_

_Everyone's waiting for the next surprise_

_Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back_

_And scream like a banshee_

_Make you jump out of your skin_

_This is Halloween, everybody scream_

_Won't you please make way for a very special guy?_

_Our man Jack is king of the pumpkin patch_

_Everyone hail to the pumpkin king now_

_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!_

_In this town we call home_

_Everyone hail to the pumpkin song_

Alex then spotted the very same scarecrow he had passed on his way to the town arrive being pulled on a straw horse. He then watched it come to life, grab a torch and ignite itself, and finally began to dance, much to the delight of its audience. Suddenly the scarecrow dived into the fountain, which instead of water, was filled with a viscous green slime spouting from the mouth of a gargoyle. Then, much to his surprise, at tall skeleton rose from the slime. He watched as the pumpkin king was praised by its fellow creatures of the night, and as it stepped down from the fountain, the stitched woman ran over and hugged him.

Alex, although he hadn't been seen felt it was time to take his leave, and slipped elegantly away into the shadows, back towards the cemetery. As Jack stood before the residents of his town, he noticed behind them a child, slipping away into the night. But what truly fascinated him, is that its level of expertise rivaled his own. The slender skeleton stood there baffled, how could someone compare with the great pumpkin king. As he was about to follow, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw it was Sally, a creation of Dr Finklestein and the woman he loved.

"Is something wrong Jack?" she asked.

"No Sally, it's just that, nah it doesn't matter" he replied half heartedly

Once the award ceremony began, Jack couldn't take his mind off the young boy. Who was he, what was he doing here? Jack had always found outsiders interesting, but there was something special about him. Curiosity got the better of him as he decided to make good his escape. Altogether this was not hard, being as quick and agile as he was. He left through the town gate and walked towards the cemetery, opening the gate as quietly as he could. Making his way through the tombstones and crypts, he soon found the boy, walking elegantly without so much as a shiver or a shake, from one stone to another. He didn't want to frighten the child, so he kept his distance for the time being, and listened to him talking.

Alex was thinking to himself about his current situation, how he would cope and whether not he should stay or leave.

"Why is it that wherever I go, there's something either dangerous or with completely different customs" he said to himself "at least if I stay here there's some excitement, and I mean, it's not like I have anything left for me back in the human world. Jacks eyes widened with surprise and realization, a human had entered Halloween town! As he began to walk towards him, he accidentally stepped on a bone which rather audibly cracked.

Snapping his head up in surprise, Alex peered over his shoulder, despite not seeing anyone; he knew all to well who was there.

"You can come out, I know your there Jack" he called rather bitterly. Jack stepped out from behind a statue, a little surprised.

"How did you know it was me following you?" he asked, standing beside Alex

"Well' in the crowd, you were the only one facing in my direction, so I was sure it was a pretty safe bet." He answered, turning to face the skeleton standing beside him. "Sorry, I haven't introduced myself, I'm Alex" he explained, a slight grin cracking on his face.

"I see, and where are you from? He looked down at him with much curiosity.

"England, now if you would explain, where exactly am I?" he asked looking up at Jack

"Why, Halloween town of course!" he said with much enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I get that, all I know is that came here through a door shaped like a jack-o-lantern

"I knew it!" Jack shouted suddenly "you came through the holiday doors. So you are a human, right?"

"Think of the possibilities, you must come back to the town and explain to everyone how humans celebrate Halloween" declared Jack ecstatically.

"Whoa whoa, whoa Jack, you expect me to return back to a town full of creatures who don't trust humans?" Alex asked with a quizzical look on his face.

"Hmmm, I will admit that is a problem Alex, usually a human becomes whatever costume they're wearing…"

"Except, in case it has escaped your notice, I'm not wearing one!" Alex pointed out

"Well, I'll have to deal with that then!"

_I call upon the powers of Halloween_

_Of the holiday worlds which remain unseen_

_To change this human, mortal child_

_Into a ghoul, untamed and wild_

_I order this by Halloween_

_For I am Jack the Pumpkin King!_

For a second nothing happened. Then, dark energies shot out of the ground and began coiling around Alex, bringing him pain. As he fell to the ground, he looked at his hands, which were becoming wooden branches. Ignoring the pain, he allowed himself to be consumed by the magic. As the magic subsided, Jack looked at what now stood before him, a living version of the scarecrow which pointed the way to town. But there were some major differences, its teeth were sharper and blade like, and its fingers ended in wooden talons. Looking over his new form the up at Jack, Alex asked "Is this what you intended?"

"No, what form you assume depends on your personality, and that form is one that only I have ever assumed before" Jack explained seeing more resemblances to himself in the boy.

"Now I must introduce you to the town, come with me" He said, and began to walk back towards the town.


End file.
